The Madam of Purgatory Reach

Chapter 5: Them

On Tuesday, the 13th of August, after a year and a half spent separated, Martha was finally reunited with her siblings.

Until this point, Martha had lived in yet another in that long line of hotel suites—it had seemed pointless for her to gather a household of servants to live in her family's splendid mansion in Faubourg Saint-Germain on her own upon her arrival in late June. Caleb Noughton had been staying in the house since the middle of July, along with Benjamin, yes, but even Martha would not behave so scandalously as to stay with two single men, companion or not. But now that her family had arrived, she moved her things from the hotel and into the mansion to join the party, putting a pause on her spoiled gypsy life and joining civilization.

She was absolutely delighted to be reunited with them all, of course. She would have wished to see Johnny again, as well as to meet Lizzie and Oliver, but she did agree with William and Thomas that the children were too young for such a journey. Charlotte had been hesitant to leave them back in Philadelphia for so long, but had finally relented, much to Martha's delight. She dearly wished to see the woman with whom she had grown so close in the last few years, and beyond that, would have been quite dismayed if Charlotte missed not only another opportunity to come to Europe for the first time, but also to see l'Exposition Universelle.

These sorts of events only came once every few years, after all, the last one being the International Exposition in London back in 1862. Their father had traveled to that fair with Thomas, and though William had attended the 1853 event in New York and the first in London in 1851, Charlotte had yet to experience such wonder.

It was an extra dollop of frosting on her celebratory cake that with the arrival of her family came the dismissal of Blanchet. There was no need for a companion or chaperone when she was in the company of three married women, after all.

Of course, with that dismissal came another one of the moments she had been dreading.

She stood outside the drawing-room now, her ear hovering near the polished wood surface of the closed door. She could faintly hear Thomas, Benjamin, and Caleb in the billiard room, and Sullivan had already passed her once, pretending he did not see her eavesdropping. Isabella was in her room, resting, and Charlotte and Olive had decided to go for a walk to stretch out their sea-legs after their long voyage. Martha might have joined them, but there was a matter of more immediate importance holding her attention—William and Blanchet were on the other side of that door, having tea while she regaled him with the report she had threatened. Martha was fluent in French, but William had a near mastery of the language, and she struggled to follow the rapid, tense conversation.

There were little bits here and there that she did understand, however: above and beyond the normal complaints about Martha, Blanchet called Benjamin a scoundrel and a swindler. She implored William to take better control of Martha before she ruined herself, called her contemptuous, impulsive, and lacking common sense. It was taking every ounce of Martha's self-control not to burst into the room and prove just how contemptuous and impulsive she could be. She did have some common sense, after all.

Eventually, the little meeting ended, and William exited the drawing-room with Blanchet. Martha moved only far enough away not to block the doorway, making no efforts to hide the fact that she had been eavesdropping. Blanchet noticed, of course, and huffed through her nose, but the 'you are no longer my problem' was evident in her features. For his part, William exchanged a brief glance that made it clear he was not thrilled, but whether he was irritated with Blanchet, Martha, or some of both was less knowable.

As soon as the companion had departed, William was back in the hallway, motioning for Martha to go into the drawing-room. He soon followed, closing the door behind him and moving to the small liquor cabinet in search of a drink.